m/m/
Press your lips together. Air flows through your nose. Vocal cords vibrate.
How to pronounce measure in American English
MEH·zher
Start here
Americans pronounce measure as MEH-zher (/ˈmɛʒər/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "Measure the pleasure" or "Measure the leisure time with precision" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "measure".
2 syllables, 4 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
eh/ɛ/
Drop your jaw moderately. Touch the tongue tip behind the bottom front teeth and lift the mid-front part slightly toward the roof.
zh/ʒ/
Flare your lips and lift the mid-front tongue close to the roof of your mouth. Add vocal cord vibration.
er/ər/
Relax your mouth and lift the tongue back and up. Keep the lips neutral.
In real conversation
Hear "measure" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"Measure the leisure time with precision."
MEH·zher dhuh LEE·zher TAHYM wihth pruh·SIH·zhuhn
"Wealth is not the only measure of success."
WEHLTH ihz NAHT dhee OHN·lee MEH·zher uhv suhk·SEHS
"Measure the pleasure."
MEH·zher dhuh PLEH·zher
"The azure sky was a treasure to measure."
dhee A·zher SKAHY wuhz uh TREH·zher tuh MEH·zher
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Watch out
Common pronunciation mistakes in American English.
The textbook way isn't wrong — it's just not how anyone actually says it.
01
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the first syllable, not the others. Stretch MEH — keep everything else short and quick.
meh·ZHER→MEH·zher
02
Pronouncing the "R" too clearly.
Americans use a relaxed retroflex R — the tongue curls back rather than rolling. The R is one continuous sound with the vowel before it, not two separate sounds.
… (no R)→… r (curl the tongue)
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "measure" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "MEH" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "MEH-zher" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
How do I pronounce the R in "measure"?
Americans use a relaxed retroflex R: the tongue curls back rather than rolling, and the R is one continuous sound with the vowel before it — not two separate sounds. Don't try to pronounce a separate vowel followed by a separate R. Treat them as a single shape.
Is the American pronunciation of "measure" different from British English?
American English uses different vowel shapes, a relaxed retroflex R, and connected-speech tricks like flap-T and glottal-stop T that British Received Pronunciation generally avoids. The respell "MEH-zher" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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